Friday, 10 February 2012

Windows app store development loses to Java

When discussing the upcoming Windows 8 and its app store, Microsoft showed a chart like this, to show relative market share:

Well, not exactly like that. The "WP7 share" mark was added by Scott, and his was the only source of this image I could find. The big blue dot is Windows, at 500 million installs. Leaving aside whether or not that number is accurate (probably not), the next one, the green dot, is Google's Android, a mobile OS, presumably included because it, too, has an app store.

The point I gather Microsoft was trying to make was that the Windows blob is the biggest, so you should develop for that. My own reaction is that I didn't realise Android was so huge, and the big green blob makes me want to do Android development. Also, it would be easier if I just focused on Java development, since that's Android and Windows covered together, the two biggest blobs, which is a double-bad hit for Microsoft, because I'd be moving away from Windows as my only development focus, and also because I wouldn't be using their tools any more either.

So Microsoft's intended response from developers like me is:
"Wow, Windows is the biggest platform out there! Golly, gee, I should definitely be focusing on that instead of those other crummy platforms!"

And my actual response is more like:
"Hm. Android is pretty darn big, and Java runs on it and Windows. I could get an even bigger reach by switching to Java instead."

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Not exactly a win.
PPS - Then again, I'm still developing on Windows for now.